The Telangana CM stated that Telangana had come into being due to the benevolence and blessings of Ujjaini Mahakali Ammavaru of Secunderabad.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao stated on Sunday that the separate state of Telangana had come into being due to the benevolence and blessings of Ujjaini Mahakali Ammavaru of Secunderabad.
On the occasion of the Bonalu festival in Secunderabad, the Chief Minister, accompanied by his wife Shobha, visited the Mahankali temple in the morning and offered silk clothes and special pujas to the presiding deity.
KCR said that he had prayed the goddess for the development of Telangana, and the prosperity and health of its people.
He requested the goddess to bless the state with adequate rains and good crops, he said, and added that the blessings of the goddess would always be there for the people of Telangana.
Upon KCR's arrival at the temple, its committee members accorded him a grand reception, and at the end of the prayers, offered theertha prasadams to the couple.
Earlier, Commercial Taxes Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav presented silk clothes to goddess Mahakali on behalf of the state government.
Yadav said that the TRS government had declared Bonalu as the state festival last year, and was releasing adequate funds for its celebrations.
He also said that at the instance of the Chief Minister, all the Ammavaru temples in Secunderabad were beautifully decorated and illuminated for Bonalu.
Telangana ministers Etela Rajender, T Padma Rao, Indrakaran Reddy and Jagadish Reddy, Telangana Council chairman K Swamy Goud, Deputy Speaker Padma Devendar Reddy, MPs K Keshav Rao and K Kavitha, MLA Konda Surekha, Telangana Political JAC convener Prof Kodandaram, TRS leaders D Srinivas, Konda Murali and Srinivas Goud, and others also visited the temple and paid obeisances to the goddess.
Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Bandaru Dattatraya, State BJP president G Kishen Reddy, Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy and top police officials including Hyderabad city Police Commissioner Mahendar Reddy also visited the temple and worshipped goddess Mahakali.
The Endowments department and temple trustees made elaborate arrangements for the festival. Devotees had started queuing up at the temple since 2 am itself for a darshan of the goddess. The temple authorities arranged five queues for the devotees and one more for those who were offering "bonalu" (short for bhojanalu). Police made elaborate security arrangements.